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Although she doesn’t, Dr. Connie Mariano could boast about her title as the first Filipino American in history to receive the rank of Navy Rear Admiral. However, when she reflects on her past, this “first” may not seem quite as significant as another first: “the first patient.”

This is how Dr. Mariano, former White House physician, referred to her most important patient: the president of the United States.

Mariano served for nine years as the White House physician under President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.

Mariano published a captivating book about her experiences at the White House. The memoir, titled “The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents,” is written in such a way that you feel as if you’re sitting down with Mariano herself, listening to stories about her years caring for the most important patients of her medical career.

Since 2001, Mariano has lived and served people here in the Valley. After four years working as a consultant in the Executive Health Care Program at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Mariano established the Center for Executive Medicine, a medical concierge practice for CEOs and their families. Framed pictures of Mariano being sworn in as Rear Admiral and posing with Presidents and other world leaders adorn the walls of her medical office, furnished to resemble the West Wing of the White House.

While Mariano has spent her life in innovative service to others, she’s not finished yet. Recently, Mariano was nominated and chosen to sit on the board of directors for Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Ever since Mariano’s younger sister came close to death at the age of 3 after accidentally ingesting poisonous liquid, Mariano, who played a vital role in saving her sister’s life, has recognized the importance of quality pediatric care.

Now, a mother of two and a stepmother of two, Mariano continues to see the need for excellent pediatric medicine and as a physician who cares for adults, oftent sees the dangerous effects of unhealthy choices that could have been prevented in childhood.

“As a parent, I can definitely see the importance of (pediatric care),” said Mariano. “But also as a physician who believes in preventative medicine, I think if you can give good care in the pediatrics world, get (children) started with good prevention of disease and good health habits, as well as educate the parents, you’ll have a healthier population.”

When discussing what excited her about the board position with PCH, Mariano said, “The most significant thing was to be part of a great team of people who are really going to make a difference in childcare here in the Valley.”

Mariano looks forward to acting as a liaison between Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the federal government and using the connections she has in Washington to contribute to the growing institution.

“There’s a reason I’m in this position in my life,” Mariano said. “The best thing to do about it is to touch lives.”

With every life she encounters, Mariano asks, “How can I help that life be better?” As a board member for Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Mariano will be able to contribute to the betterment of thousands of young lives.

CBRE arranged the sale of Elliot Corporate Center located at 875 W. Elliot Road in Tempe, Ariz. The 223,392 square-foot office building commanded a sale price of $23.5 million, or $105.20 per square-foot.

Jim Fijan and Will Mast with CBRE’s Phoenix office represented the seller, tenants-in-common owners through Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Thompson National Properties LLC . The purchase was a joint venture between Everest Holdings in Scottsdale, Ariz. and Walton Street Capital in Chicago, Ill.

“This transaction is another example of the continued demand for office investment properties in the southeast Valley,” said Fijan. “Savvy investors recognize the continued strengthening of the market and well-located, well-taken-care of assets, like Elliot Corporate Center, are going to be well received.”

Anchored by The Apollo Group, Inc.’s The University of Phoenix, which occupies 162,069 square feet, the two-story Elliot Corporate Center was 87% at the time of sale. The project also houses Lamson Business College in 32,400 square feet. The remaining vacant space totals 29,923 square feet and is available for lease.

Built in 1998, Elliot Corporate Center benefits from immediate access to I-10 at Elliot Road as well as access to a densely-populated, large and well educated workforce in south Tempe and the extended southeast Valley.

Tim and Eric Crown, Arizona brothers who founded Insight Enterprises, have formed a partnership with Robert Parker, the former Insight Vice President of Financial Services. Insight Enterprises is a Fortune 500 computer services company with sales in excess of $5 billion in 2012. Together they formed the Crown Parker Advisory Group, a successful business development company focused on United States and China business relationships.

Crown Parker Advisory Group has also been working with members of the Bush family. The group has worked together with Neil Bush on several transactions in China, as well as organizing an appearance by former President George W. Bush at the American Century Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Crown Parker Advisory Group specializes in strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, raising capital and government relations. They are working with clients in China and the United States, in the fields of clean energy, logistics, entertainment, commodities and banking. Most recently, the group has assisted in the development of a new cold chain logistics company in China.

This past February, Robert Parker had the pleasure of interviewing China’s then-incoming President Xi Jinping, for FOX News, during his visit to Los Angeles. At the request of the People’s Republic of China, Parker attended events at the Palm Springs’ summit between President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama. “We appreciate President Xi Jinping’s confidence in this new model of relations between the United States and China,” says Parker.

Robert Parker and Eric Crown have been interviewed and supplied commentary on local and national programs including, FOX News and CCTV in Asia regarding U.S. and China business relations. Parker, who now considers President Xi Jinping a friend, says he feels confident that under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China and the United States will succeed together in business and in friendship.

Every four years, the United States of America has a presidential election. More Americans turn out and participate in the presidential elections than the lesser recognized midterm elections. The midterm elections occur in the two-year gaps between the presidential elections. In many ways, these midterms are just as important.

While presidents get four-year terms, all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives serve only two-year terms. The 100 U.S. Senators serve six-year terms and are staggered, with 33 or 34 being up for election every two years. This means that every midterm election the entire House and a third of the Senate are up for election.

Midterm elections are quite often referendums on the incumbent president, and they are seldom kind. In the last 16 midterm elections since Harry Truman, the incumbent party of the president has lost an average of 24 seats in the House and four in the Senate. In the modern era, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both two-term presidents, had a good and bad midterm. Clinton’s disastrous first midterm in 1994, following his attempt at universal health care, is sometimes referred to as the “Republican Revolution.” Democrats lost 54 House seats and eight Senate seats. Clinton bounced back in 1998, gaining five House seats and not losing any in the Senate. Bush did it the opposite way. He had a great first midterm in 2002, on the heels of 9/11, the War on Terror, and the Iraqi War, picking up eight in the House and two in the Senate. In 2006, Democrats regained the House, picking up 30 seats and gaining six in the Senate.

So what does this history mean to us? On Nov. 2, 2010 we have a midterm election that will be a referendum on President Barack Obama. How will he fare? Current expectations are that Obama’s party will lose seats in both bodies of Congress. Some analysts are predicting that the Democrats may lose as many as 30 to 40 seats in the House. This is significant, because they hold a 75-seat advantage. Losing 38 seats means losing the majority. In the Senate, Democrats look to be losing at least four seats, with another five as toss-ups. If they all got to Republicans, the Senate would be at a 50-50 deadlock. Don’t expect all of those seats to go to Republicans.

Our Founding Fathers structured a system of government that contains checks and balances. While they may not have necessarily designed this two-party system, it does appear to provide accountability. When a president wins an election, he has two years to set his agenda and begin to show progress. He faces the consequences of his actions — and the nation’s mood — at the midterm elections. If the country is happy, he might maintain the same congressional support, with voters keeping his party in power. If the country isn’t happy, they might keep fewer of the president’s party in office, thus moderating what he is trying to accomplish.

Even if Republicans don’t take back either body, slimmer Democratic majorities would seem to mean more difficulty for President Obama. Or will they? My belief is that when a president has a large majority he has little incentive to be diplomatic with the opposite party. When he has fewer of his own party in Congress to work with, he then has to reach across the aisle more often and be more of a statesman.

Midterms can be a humbling experience for a president, but they can also be how Americans moderate our federal government.

Baby Steps

Hispanic Chamber to push for guest worker program

By David Schwartz

They are the lessons pulled from the history books and reinforced in the mind of a 12-year-old boy working in the picking fields of Holtville, a small agricultural enclave in Imperial Valley, Calif. It was there that young, macho Harry Garewal learned first-hand about the importance of immigrant labor, schooled on the tricks of the trade from the guest workers at the time as he harvested crops of carrots, onions, watermelons and tomatoes.

Beyond wearing long sleeves in the blaring sun and using overripe tomatoes to wash away the insecticides, the youth cultivated a broad realization that sticks with him today. “This country has been reliant on imported immigrant labor since its inception,” says Garewal, president and chief executive of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “That’s the way it has been and always will be. That’s what this issue is all about. Our labor market is based on supply and demand. There is a demand for these workers. And we need to have a program in place that gets the job done.” That’s why the 567-member chamber now is pushing for a federal guest worker program with renewed vigor, backed by small and medium-sized businesses who overwhelmingly have said they want the group to get involved in public policy issues.

Starting first with “baby steps,” Garewal says the chamber plans to add a stronger voice than ever before to the immigration debate as the nation struggles with a solution to what most agree is a broken system. Congress is expected to hold public hearings around the country this summer to listen to what the American public has to say about the divisive issue. This as President George W. Bush has made immigration reform a top priority and a guest worker program a key element in his plan.

Garewal says the timing could not be better for the chamber to play a more active role on an issue that hits hard locally, potentially harming Arizona’s robust economy. “Before, we served as an information highway and voiced our opinion to people,” says Garewal, who has led the chamber for three years. “Now, we’re going to do a little more.”

He says future plans tentatively call for the chamber to join or start a political action committee and hire a part-time lobbyist to rally support. Chamber members also would be trained to help make the case for reforms.

Chamber officials are working from a document that was passed by its public policy committee about three years ago, stitched together after a meeting with congressional leaders and staff members from Arizona. Outlined in the one-page proposal are the key reasons for a federal guest worker program and six tenants that such an effort should contain.

Jessica Pacheco, the committee’s chairwoman, says the policy seeks to move beyond the politics and heated rhetoric swirling about the issue and provide businesses with badly needed workers at a time when the labor market is wound tightly.

“What we wanted to do was bring some facts back into the conversation,” says Pacheco, an Arizona Public Service Co. executive. “The fact is that we need temporary workers to fill jobs in this country. We frankly don’t have enough bodies to do certain jobs.”

She says a guest worker program is not about amnesty or a path to citizenship—two thorny issues that often cloud the debate and prevent clear-headed measures from progressing. Pacheco also says that changes are needed to improve the system now, allowing employers to determine whether prospective employees are legal. “Any thoughtful business person in this country believes there is a need for a guest worker program,” Pacheco says. “It’s just good for business.”

Ray Gonzales, president of RBG Construction Co. in Glendale, says a guest worker program is long overdue and that the workers are vital to the industry and others statewide. “It would really hurt if we tried to get rid of these people instead of making it right for them,” adds Gonzales, whose decade-old company employs about 80 workers. “It’s a shame that we fail to recognize that immigrants bring success to whatever it is and wherever we are using them.”

In the end, Garewal believes long-awaited immigration reform—one with a guest worker program at its heart—will be passed into law in the near future. “I think we will come to an agreement in this country for systematic improvement,” he says. “It may take a couple of years to iron out the details, but it is going to happen. It has to happen.”